My previous post asked how many cubes would say are touching cube 1. Imo I would say 5-6 cuz 3 of them are touching the faces plus the 2-3 touching each corner. Is my theory correct?

I have my first 48 next week and it’s expected I cook for ~6 guys. Any ideas for a safe, acceptable dinner that’s not spaghetti?

Appreciate the help. Sorry - I’m sure this gets asked a lot

Gettin my cards signed, captain asked where I'm trying to go. Told everybody and one promptly says "ewww the two dirtiest stations in the city!"

It never even crossed my mind they were two of the nastiest houses 😄 I do love the gym set up, the guys and they'd be a tick busier than where I'm at now

What were your reasons in choosing your home?

I don't know if it's specific to my department, or if everyone has to deal with this, but every wreck with minor injuries goes out with the above note in Active911.

"Other than to a not dangerous area" means "to a dangerous area", but then "NOT DANGEROUS" is in all caps, indicating that it ISN'T to a dangerous area. From experience I know that when I see that note, the injuries are to a not dangerous area, but I've sent this up to get fixed half a dozen times and it hasn't changed, and it drives me nuts.

Anyone else deal with this? It's not ridiculous to be annoyed by it right?

Watch any POV video of a firefighter attacking any kind of fire. YouTube, tik tok, reels, doesn’t matter. I would bet money the comment section is filled with people fucking arm chair quarterbacking every single movement they make.

They hit it with a fog pattern?

They’re actively burning down the building

They hit it with a straight stream?

They’re not doing anything

They go interior?

They’re an idiot

They’re defensive?

They’re a pussy

Why do we always disparage each other like this? Different departments react differently to different fires based on their available resources, SOPs, training, tools, etc.

Can we please try to be more supportive and constructive instead of just trying to jerk off our egos every time we see someone doing something differently than we would have?

After place a hand over the demand valve port and forcing air out, I expected these to be the exhalation valves but no air movement at all. Even after cleaning. Something else? Maybe just stuck shut after years of no use?what are your thoughts?

What’s better.

My opinion is spam doors are better. They don’t take up compartment space when opened and you can mouth stuff on them.

For reference, 34m. Been volunteering for awhile and thinking about going full time. However, from what I’ve seen it sounds like it’s 25 years to retirement putting me at 59. Definitely late to the game.

My question is, I’ve read that a lot of departments (if not all) don’t pay SS and instead to retirement. So let’s say I start and don’t do the full 25.. would I be fucking myself over long term both because I wouldn’t get the FF retirement but also shorting my SS benefits?

My quality of sleep sucks at the firehouse. I know this is a typical statement, but I feel like I literally wake up 100 times a night and I'm constantly rolling around trying to get comfortable.

Based on other comments on here, I'm looking to get a 2" mattress topper. I use regular bed sheets, a good quality pillow and a decent comforter. Problem is our beds are anywhere from twin to full size so I don't know what size topper to get. Any suggestions on how to accommodate that, or should I just get a larger topper and fold over the used section?

Thanks in advance and stay safe

Im planning on volunteering as a firefighter over the summer to get some experience in. If I’m being honest, I’m not quite sure what it entails. The most I’ve ever done is shadow nurses/doctors. I don’t have much experience and am wondering if I even should volunteer. I’m so scared I’ll get in the way or be a distraction.

And I have no idea what to do with ‘em. I’m making radio straps and other shit from the shells, no use for the liners. So if you have an idea what I can use them for or if you can use them and will pay for shipping, I’d be much obliged.

Fire investigators, what do you have in your tool boxes? From camera flashes to screwdrivers, what are your must haves?

Question I am on a rural department and I get looked down on because I can't make any of our fundraisers due to work schedule. I'm fully certified I run 95% of the calls. And the chiefs wife makes an effort to single me out at meetings for not being able to work our fundraisers is the department toxic or am I actually just a shitty volunteer? I love doing this I wouldn't give it up for anything. But I believe my chance to advance anywhere is stalled because of this behavior. Can't talk to my chief though because it's his wife who's also our ems caption whom I ride alot with.

I genuinely want to know

I’m a writer who likes to be as accurate as I can in what I write and haven’t been able to find the answers I’m looking for with a quick google search

I have a firefighter character with a hyphenated last name. Would he have to have his full last name on his gear or could he be allowed to have just one of the names? I want to go with one name but I feel like it might have to be the full legal last name

I reload ammo, which means I've got a room of components like powder and primers. I keep most of the components in a "flamables" rack, but I'm looking for more. I've seen ads for those fire ball things, but they're not supported by UL since they don't have a pressure valve. Other than a full on fire suppression system, which I can't afford, what can I do to set up something to extinguish a fire if I'm not home or I'm I'm asleep?

About an hour ago I called 911 for what I thought was a house fire. There was visible fire and a lot of smoke and it seemed like the fire was getting bigger.

So I called and told them what’s going on. Two fire trucks showed up, not long after they showed up, the person I was talking on the phone with tells me it’s just a bonfire. I felt so embarrassed when he told me that 🫠

He told me he appreciated the call anyway and it kind of made me feel better but I still feel so embarrassed 🙈 The firefighters stuck around even after they told me it’s just a bonfire so I don’t think I wasted their time? But I’m not entirely sure. I’m just so embarrassed about it all 😩

Please tell me I did the right thing by calling 911 and that I didn’t waste their time 🙈

I imagine throwing ladders, especially wooden ladders, would be the hardest. But pulling ceiling or fucking around with supply lines must suck too.

I am a student at the University of Central Florida and I am searching for advising on how to accurately represent a wildfire; particularly the conduct of individuals who deal with them. It is for a research manuscript and I would love if anyone could spare the time to offer real-world information on the subject. I will be particularly looking for information on; how a wildfire spreads on a mountain terrain, how individuals can halt wildfires by hand, how wildfires can spread over rivers and waterways, and the likelihood of a situation in which individuals must deal with a widespread fire by hand.

I am a commercial locksmith that has a very large amount of hardware that is functional and free. I was collecting them on the off chance that firefighters would want them for training, as they would be free to get for exigent entry training.

I am willing to install them for free and offer bypassing techniques as well. I thought it would be good outreach and a good use of scuffed(used/unsellable goods) other than tossing them into a recycling bin.

Every volunteer group I asked said some version of ‘I don’t know about that’ and now im confused.

Am I barking up the wrong tree, or am I just wasting everybodies time?

How old is the oldest recruit or academy grad you know of or worked with? I heard one of the largest metro depts hired a 55 year old a few years ago. Never met him but I imagine he's must've been a beast who somehow kept his knees in shape...

I'm curious about a couple things.

Do you think this is actual fire damage? Or is there any way this could be damage from the heat of a stove pipe that never actually caught the wood on fire? To me, it looks like there was a fire in the wall and the fire spread up the wall into the plywood sheathing and it stopped about 5 feet back. When I peer over the new plywood, the blackened wood goes down the wall where you can't see, but I can't get behind the plywood to see the pattern or how far down it goes unless I remove the wood. I'm not a FF.

I've scheduled an electrician to document hazards here and I just noticed this (I have not had power in this building since 2019, so there is no light so that's why I didn't see it). This is a well house about 20x10 feet. My initial concern was that there was an electrical fire in here and it put itself out somehow.

I've had several electrical fires already, and all the outlets in this building were submerged in 5 separate floods, the first of which killed the power and so I'm trying to determine the cause. My landlord's explanation sounds bogus. She said before this building ever had electricity, it was a wood-fired sauna powered by a wood stove, and what I'm looking at here is "soot from the stove pipe heat" and she swears nothing ever caught on fire here. I can't wrap my head around how this wasn't an actual fire, but since I'm no expert, I thought I should ask people who are.

I'm about to take some legal action and if there's no way she's telling the truth, I want to pay for someone to come out and try to determine the cause if possible. If she might be telling the truth, then I won't waste my money and I will just keep it documented as something unknown. Any insight would be greatly appreciated, and if this is not the right place to post this, sorry!! I saw other posts like this so I thought it was relevant.

Morning brother and sisters! I want to make a “shorty” window access ladder. I’ve got a 14’ roof ladder that will be sacrificed to the VEIS Gods for this project. Cut it in half and make 2? Or would it be too short? I know… I could go measure… but I’m gonna go do rig checks and just want an answer lol.

Hello, I'm trying to figure out what gases I might have been exposed to when I burned some butter on a pan in my apartment with the windows closed. I'm not seeking medical advice, but I am trying to understand the event.

Monday, 5 days ago, I left some butter in a pan on my electric stove at low heat (2/10, maybe 3/10) which I thought I'd turned off. When I smelled something acrid, I thought it was coming from outside and closed the window, while I was on a conference call. About half an hour later, as it was becoming a bit difficult to speak, I walked over and noticed the blackened pan, removed it, and ventilated the apartment. Airflow here is really good and there was wind that day. There was never any visible smoke, and the pan was not glowing hot. My cognition felt a little off for a while but nothing serious.

Two days in I was feeling fatigue, dry throat and minor shortness of breath, so went to urgent care. My blood O2 was normal, and they said symptoms of smoke exposure should resolve within a week.

Four days in, I was feeling short of breath more often, and very fatigued, and I went to the ER, where again my O2 was normal, lung x-ray normal, everything normal, and they sent me home. Even now, my appetite is shot and I'm just dragging through the day.

So now the chemistry question for the forum: If the butter never caught fire, what did it do? It's almost pure fat. As I search, the combustion products of lipids seem to be water and CO2, and surely some other nasty stuff. CO is absent or trace. But there is no combustion without fire or smoke, right?

My next suspicion was gasification. Gasification of lipids supposedly occurs at nearly 1000c, way hotter than a stovetop on low could ever get. Before that happens, the stainless steel pan should have been glowing. It wasn't, nor was the handle hot to the touch. However, gasification produces CO, which is my real fear.

So I'm stumped, and not sure how to understand what happened. I would like to have a more informed story next time I see a doctor since they can't find anything wrong.

BTW - since the smoke detector is conspicuously absent from this story - I had pulled the battery after a false alarm in the middle of the night. Not replacing the alarm in its entirety was a stupid move, but I know that now. Turns out it's at least 30 years old.